Mariana Mazzucato , a professor at University College London and one of the world’s most influential economists, will be the guest speaker at the Wincott Foundation’s Awards lunch in Mansion House on May 9.
Prof Mazzucato’s work challenges orthodox thinking about the role of the state and the private sector in driving innovation and focuses on how market-shaping policy can be designed to help solve the grand challenges facing humanity.
She is the winner of several international prizes and was named as one of the ‘three most important thinkers about innovation‘ by The New Republic, one of the 50 most creative people in business in 2020 by Fast Company, and one of the 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism by WIRED.
She has written four highly-acclaimed books: The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths (2013), The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018), Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism (2021), and most recently The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies (2023).
This year’s submissions for the Wincott awards covered many of the big themes in 2022 – the fall-out from the mini-budget, the cost of living crisis, Russian sanctions and the war in Ukraine, the failure of FTX and Sam Bankman Fried, levelling up, and the shortage of microchips.
The 150 entries also include fine examples of complex data analysis; campagining journalism; podcasts on the City, personal finance, and the porn industry; and videos on the Brexit effect, Europe’s energy nightmare and the race to net zero.
The judges will draw up shortlists for the awards in April and the winners in each category will be announced at the Mansion House lunch on May 9.